Kansas survived a rock-fight in Boulder because Melvin Council Jr. turned the last five minutes into his personal highlight reel, giving the shorthanded Jayhawks their fourth straight win and dropping CU to 0-4 in the league.
Why the final 5:07 flipped the script
Kansas led 60-59 when the under-eight media timeout hit. From that stoppage forward, the Jayhawks’ offense ran through one player: Melvin Council Jr.
Over the next 5:07 he scored 10 of Kansas’ final 15 points, mixing a pair of fearless layups, two pressure free throws and a momentum-killing dunk that silenced the Coors Events Center crowd. The burst turned a one-possession nail-biter into a six-point road win that keeps KU inside the top 20 and drops Colorado to 0-4 in Big 12 play.
- 5:07 mark – Council euro-steps through traffic for a layup, 62-59
- 3:42 mark – steals the inbound, lays it in before CU can set, 64-59
- 2:09 mark – assist to Darryn Peterson for the banked three, 70-63
- 0:55 mark – baseline dunk off a Tre White feed, 74-66
Inside the numbers
Colorado entered the night averaging 78.4 points at home; Kansas held the Buffs to 69 on 39% shooting and forced 15 turnovers that became 18 Jayhawk points. The defensive clamp coincided with CU’s longest scoreless drought of the season: 3:02 without a bucket while Council went to work.
Bill Self’s absence: What we know
Self never boarded the team plane after experiencing light-headedness Monday. He was evaluated at Lawrence Memorial, received IV fluids and was released the same night. The Associated Press confirmed he has now missed four games since 2022 because of heart-related issues, including last March’s Big 12 tournament opener.
Jacque Vaughn, hired last May after a stint as Brooklyn Nets head coach, slid into the chair and became the first KU assistant to win his debut as acting coach since Joe Dooley in 2014. Vaughn’s game plan: shrink the rotation to eight, switch everything on the perimeter and live with Council’s late-game creativity. The result pushed Self’s career record against Colorado to 22-1.
What it means for the standings
The Jayhawks (14-5, 4-2) jump into a three-way tie for second with Iowa State and Baylor, one game behind league-leading Houston. Kansas owns the tie-breaker over both after beating ISU and BU last week. AP Top 25 tracking shows KU’s résumé now features four Quadrant-1 wins and zero losses outside Q1.
Colorado (12-7, 2-4) remains anchored to 13th in the 14-team Big 12 and has dropped four straight for the first time since 2021. The Buffs’ next two – UCF at home, at Kansas State – are suddenly must-win if they want to avoid the conference play-in round in March.
Key performances
- Tre White – 17 pts, 15 reb, 5th double-double of the year; KU is 4-1 when he reaches that mark
- Darryn Peterson – 16 pts, banked three to answer CU’s last run; played final 8:00 after rolling his ankle
- Isaiah Johnson (CU) – 19 pts on 8-14 FG, but only two in the last 7:30
- Barrington Hargress (CU) – 17 pts, 4-7 from deep, fouled out with 1:04 left
Looking ahead
Kansas visits rival Kansas State on Saturday for the Sunflower Showdown, where Self could return if cleared by team doctors. A win would give KU its first five-game winning streak since last February and keep pressure on Houston atop the Big 12.
Colorado welcomes UCF on Saturday desperate to halt the slide before the schedule turns brutal: at BYU, vs. Houston, at Texas Tech in the following eight days.
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